Reach for the Stars!

This weekend we headed west to Virginia... we don't often go to Virginia (or like going to Virginia). We go to visit my brother and for that we take a deep breath - he lives in Loudoun County. We also went to visit George Washington's house at Mt. Vernon and to a park to see the planes take off at National Airport (you can see the posts here).  Oh yeah, and I guess we have to go to Virginia when we go to the airport (usually National but sometimes Dulles).

Speaking of airports, this past Saturday, we made the 45 minute drive to Dulles Airport to visit the Smithsonian Udvar Hazey Air & Space Museum - and it was worth it! 

We arrived when it opened - at around 10am for Weather Day and met our buddies at the entrance.  We were there to see the space shuttle Discovery, but the whole place is pretty amazing.  It is the perfect kind of place for Jonah and his buddy - really big space, the stuff to look at is really big, it is cool (temperature wise and otherwise), and the space shuttle was there!!!

Jonah & his buddy ran all around the place, taking it all in.  They wore their super cool jet packs most of the time.  Jonah was flying his plastic space shuttle all over.  They were screaming and laughing and no one seemed to mind.  We went at the perfect time as it wasn't too crowded.  We even got to see a weather experiment about a tornado...

The place is just cool.  It is great for all ages.  I was a bit emotional when I saw the space shuttle.  I remember perfectly when the Challenger blew up right in front of my eyes on TV... and on Saturday I brought my two kids to see Discovery - up close and personal - now that is a real time warp... for me at least. 

It is a bit sad that there aren't any more shuttle flights to be planned.  Little kids need to imagine and make believe they are astronauts and they are taking flights into space - it is part of exploring our world and others.  I hope during my kids' childhood, there are some manned space missions planned and executed - maybe to Mars!

There is a saying that I believe with all my heart.  It goes something like this...

Always reach for the stars, that way if you miss you'll get the moon.

I hope they live their lives that way. 

tornado watch

model airplanes

SPACE TOYS!

astronaut Barbie

Jonah & Vera meet the Space Shuttle

watching it blast off

our wild and crazy boys!

now they are really ready to blast off!

flying over the moon!

our astronauts!